With the advent of virtualization technology such as VMware & Xen, we are nearing another revolution: the Downloadable Personal Computer.

Is the concept far fetched? Consider the following:

1- Virtualization technology makes it possible to run any operating system (OS) on any (decent) personal computer

2- Linux distributions such as Ubuntu and Fedora have now matured to the point where normal people can use these OS’s for every day tasks such as email, WEB browsing and media playing

3- Distribution: the packaging of the Downloadable Personal Computer can easily follow a model akin to JumpBox’s

The result

a) Joe Bloe walks (or surfs or course) to his favorite PC hardware store and buys a Customizable Personal Computer (i.e one on which you can have a Downloadable Personal Computer)

b) Joe Bloe surfs to his favorite Downloadable Personal Computer WEB site and customize his very own PC: he chooses his OS, browser, Music & Video player etc.

c) Joe Bloe downloads a copy of his customized PC

d) Joe Bloe installs his customized PC

Windows’ reign drawing closer to its end

What else does it take to free ourselves from Windows’ reign? Not much still: BIOS manufacturers have progressed to the point where the booting stage of a PC is much more controllable & customizable. The final step is to include a virtual machine player (such as VMware’s) on the motherboard and voilà !